Heavy rain and floods caused an estimated total damage of 323 million euros in the particularly affected areas of Bavaria this year. This emerges from an as yet unpublished answer by the state government to a request from Green MPs Johannes Becher and Katharina Schulze. The Ministry of the Interior cites the extreme heavy rain in July in Berchtesgadener Land as an example, which triggered massive floods and mudslides and affected entire districts. After severe damage to the infrastructure, but also to private buildings, a debate arose in the summer about insurance coverage for residential buildings in Bavaria.
The answer also mentions floods, for example in the event of disasters such as in July in the Ansbach region and in several districts in Lower Franconia. The deployment costs for all areas named in the answer amounted to more than two million euros, although there were also countless thousands of hours of voluntary work. At the same time, rescue workers from the Free State actively contributed to the disaster in Rhineland-Palatinate. A total of 7,276 emergency services from the so-called non-police emergency response were mainly involved in the Ahrweiler district, such as the technical relief organization, fire brigades, the Red Cross and the Maltese relief service.
The “huge challenges” posed by the climate crisis
The damage and deployment costs in Bavaria “are actually much higher,” says Johannes Becher, local political spokesman for his parliamentary group. He complains that the overview from the ministry shows gaps, there was a lack of “the flood of the century in Landshut” or hundreds of full cellars in Swabia. He and parliamentary group leader Schulze are primarily concerned with the “huge challenges” that are increasing in the course of the climate crisis. More climate protection and climate change adaptations are needed, but also investments in disaster control. In addition to the technology, a focus must be placed on training and further education, and there is a need for improvement in follow-up care after operations.
Most recently, a small group of green firefighters and auxiliary workers presented a paper on the challenges in disaster control and the concerns of volunteers. It said: “An even better look must be placed on mental health”, offers should be expanded and made more easily accessible. “We cannot expect that those who help always help us, they too may need help from time to time.” In December, the Greens want to meet with aid organizations and municipalities at a round table “to identify the biggest problems in practice”.
Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) recently announced that disaster control and the “completely new locations” as a result of heavy rain will be a focus of his house next year. On the one hand, it is about increased disaster exercises (“practice, practice, practice”) in the Free State; on the other hand, Herrmann wants to “set the tone” as chairman of the conference of interior ministers.